This invention relates generally to cutting devices for separating into individual sections a web fed from a roll.
In particular, this invention is concerned with a device for cutting a web, such as a roll of printed paper, into predetermined sections according to cutting marks provided on the web.
The known devices of this type include at least one driven and exchangeable take-up roller, a device for electro-optically scanning the cutting marks on the web, a cutting mechanism controlled by the scanning device and a folding device for folding the separated web sections.
From the prior art so-called automatic roller cutting and folding machines are known in which a printed web is intermittently advanced and severed along straight cutting lines and subsequently folded in an edging and folding device. Such known devices are used for example in connection with packing devices for cutting and folding instruction leaflets for pharmaceutical products.
In the application of such machines, however, it has been shown that they do not meet the requirements for optimum operation in all application cases and that intermediate storing devices have to be used for the web sections because otherwise an accurate synchronization of the cutting machine with the subsequent packing machine would be impossible.